“Shut up, you idiot.” He actually had her grinning in spite of the train-wreck of a mess she’d made. “I was going to say mutual. You don’t have anything more to feel guilty about than I do, but I’m sorry—it can’t happen again.”
“It will happen again,” he said without pause or question. His rapid-fire response raised her hackles.
“It won’t.” She volleyed the words back.
“So you snap your fingers, and it’s over. Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“I really thought you were smarter.” He leaned cheek to cheek with her. His warm breath caressed her skin. “I don’t think you’re any better at controlling this thing, attraction, or whatever it is than I am. Are you, Jordan?”
She shivered and closed her eyes. The manipulation was obvious. Unfortunately, so was her body’s reaction. Her heart ached to tell him he was right.
But then he said, “We can make this work.”
That brought it all into focus. He thought there was a “we.” She stepped back and took a deep breath, attempting to clear her senses of everything Tyler McGee. “I can’t do this with you. I told you there was no room in my life for a guy.”
Looking disgusted, he narrowed his eyes, propped his hands on his hips. “Yeah, I can see how those twenty minutes you gave me would really take a toll. What aren’t you telling me?”
The man was a fucking dog with a bone. “There’s nothing to tell. You want more, I don’t. It’s over.”
He clearly wasn’t interested in her half of the conversation. He wagged his finger as if she hadn’t spoken at all. “I’ve got a bad feeling there’s something going on between you and Warren. Something a whole lot uglier than some simple, harmless flirting. If you need help—”
“I can’t have this out with you right now.” She held up her hand to cut him off. “Whatever is between me and Warren is my business. My shift was supposed to start a couple of minutes ago. I need to go.”
“Damn it.” His eyes could change like a bloody damned mood ring. Right now, a cold, hard concrete gray snapped out at her. “Jordan, he’s a spoiled brat, not to mention an alcoholic. He’s got a hell of a temper, and he’s lit every night of the week. I’ve asked around about him; he’s bad news.”
He cupped the back of her neck and drew her close. The move was quick; she looked up, inhaled sharply at his intense glare. He leaned in and covered her lips with his.
The kiss was soft, a shocking contrast to the hard lines in his expression only moments ago. Her legs began to melt like candle wax under the heat of a flame. Her head tilted back, allowing the smooth, gentle stroke of his tongue better access to her own. It should have been a short, simple kiss. One she should have dodged. But it turned out to be neither short nor simple.
The man’s lips could coax any reasonable thought right out of her head. But it was the soft bite and tug on her bottom lip that had her arms springing up around his neck. Every single nerve craved him. The roar of a car barreling down the road finally made her peel herself off him and inspect her surroundings.
After the car passed, he stepped closer again, murmured into her ear. “Warren Buck can’t make you feel like that.”
Nothing had ever made her feel like that. And it was reason enough to end whatever this was before it began. “This won’t work. I cannot have this in my life.” She pushed away quick and hard. “I’m not with Warren, but I won’t make him angry either. He does seem to have feelings for me, and I need this job. If you care about me at all, you won’t come between us. I can’t afford for Warren to think there’s something going on between you and me.”
“He can’t fire you because you’re interested in someone else. That’s completely childish.”
“And just the kind of thing he would do, don’t you think? I have to go. Don’t come near me in there. I mean it.”
***
The woman made his blood boil. In good ways. In bad ways. He’d known her less than a week, and quite possibly, she’d be the death of him.
It didn’t make sense. She didn’t make sense. There was more to her story than met the eye. He’d bet everything he owned on that fact. She was smart. Good personality. Sexy as hell. And she no more belonged at Buck’s than he did.
Don’t come near me in there; I mean it.
Her words tore at him. She claimed she wasn’t interested in taking things farther, but her body spoke a truth she couldn’t possibly deny. She wanted to dismiss what happened between them as a primal, sexual mistake. Maybe it had been primal and sexual, but mistake? Not likely. She’d admitted to the attraction, and he knew they weren’t over.
But he’d give her time to come to terms with it all. He’d play it slow. Steady. Controlled. Give himself time to figure out what the hell kind of hold Warren Buck had on her. He hoped she hadn’t done something illegal with the Bucks holding proof. Warren Buck would love nothing more than to have a woman like Jordan in his bed, even if it took blackmail to achieve it.
Ty was with his crew in the corner of the club, going over proper take-down procedures, when Warren sauntered in. He was loud and obnoxious and carrying on with a couple of his friends. By the time the place closed, Warren could work up a good drunk. Apparently he’d gotten an early start today.
Determined to ignore the idiot, Ty continued working with the bouncers. He’d finished the official meeting and was talking about scheduling problems when a couple of the guys lost interest and started mumbling.
“Warren is seriously drunk,” Big Tom whispered. “And he has a major hard-on for Jordan.”
Ty’s gaze zeroed in on Warren.
“Jordan, come here, darlin’. Take a load off those amazing legs.” Warren’s obnoxious voice echoed off the walls of the mostly empty club.
Ty stared in Jordan’s direction; he couldn’t help himself. Warren Buck had his hands on her hips. Ty’s jaw clenched hard enough to ground his teeth into dust, but he’d choke down the anger. If this is how Jordan wanted it, so be it. He turned back to his guys, determined to ignore anything Warren said. The problem was, he could hear everything the bouncers were saying.
“She ain’t giving it up to him,” the other bouncer whispered. “He ain’t in her league.”
“This is my girl, right here.” Warren boasted loudly in front of his two friends. “She likes to play hard to get, but she’s gonna come around real soon to the idea of the two of us together.”
“See what I mean,” Big Tom said. “Depends on how bad she wants to keep her job. I’ve seen his moves when he comes in drunk like this. He’ll pull her in the office or a VIP room in a couple of minutes. If she likes the money here enough, she’ll give.”
With that, Ty felt the top of his head lift right off his body. “We’re done here.” The look he pinned on the two mumbling bouncers was sharp enough to cut diamonds. He stepped toward them. “Is Warren like this all the time?”
“Not usually. But only because he’s scared of Arlo. His old man damn near drop-kicked him the last time he was this drunk in here. They had a huge fight, and everyone in the place heard Buck tell him he better straighten his ass out or he was cut off.”
“A lot of good that did,” Ty muttered.
He watched Warren brush Jordan’s hair to one side and start nuzzling her neck.
Game over. Ty was pretty sure a blood vessel had just burst inside his head. So much for slow, steady, and controlled. Did Jordan think he was just going to sit and watch?
Not fucking likely.
He wove through the sea of tables toward the other end of the nightclub. The end where Jordan’s station was and probably the spot where Warren would take his last breath.
Warren stood and tugged Jordan out the back door.
Fine with me. He didn’t need a nightclub full of witnesses when he beat Warren unconscious.
Arlo Buck walked through the front doors of the club and almost collided with Ty. “McGee, follow me.”
Ty stopped midstride and stared at A
rlo.
“You deaf or just dumb, boy? Get your ass over here.” Buck plopped down at a table next to the bar.
Ty backtracked to Buck. He was still debating the wisdom of ignoring him and heading out the back door to kill Warren, but Jordan’s voice played like a recording in his head. “Stay away from me in there.”
“You legally covered to carry a gun?” Buck asked.
The question caught Ty’s interest.
“Yes. I haven’t needed one in here, but I’ll make sure it’s visible if you want me to.”
“I’m getting some important deliveries of alcohol and food for the Christmas and New Year’s parties. I want security, so all of the bouncers working. I want you armed. I don’t trust them delivery guys. If they can find a way to screw you, they will.”
Ty’s focus shifted solely to Buck for a moment. Guys who delivered food and alcohol weren’t notoriously untrustworthy, but guys who delivered drugs certainly could be. He nodded. “Okay. When?”
“Couple weeks before Christmas. Probably that Monday while we’re closed.” Ty nodded again and turned to walk away.
“McGee, what’s wrong with you?” Buck called out.
On a flash of brilliance, Ty decided the best way to save Jordan was to fuel the fire between Arlo and Warren. “Warren came in about a half hour ago. He’s pretty drunk, hitting on the waitresses and being loud. I know it’s a bar, but he’s obnoxious loud. Hands all over the girls. He just pushed one of them out the back door.”
Buck turned red, as though his blood pressure spiked about fifty points. Of course that was precisely the intended reaction. For one brief moment, Buck looked almost human, more like an angry dad than a mean, nasty, drug-dealing son of a bitch.
“Go get him. Tell him to get in my office. Now.”
Ty didn’t have to be asked twice. He shot toward the back door like a bullet.
***
It wasn’t so much the whiskey on Warren’s breath or even the stale smell of sweat that made Jordan want to heave. It was the hand he cupped over her breast while pushing her up against the back wall. Not to mention it was freezing, and she was in shorts. All in all, not a position she hoped to find herself in. Not today anyway.
She was perfectly aware she’d been playing a dangerous game with Warren, and now the shameless flirting was beginning to backfire. The plan, her plan, was to dodge any serious moves for at least a few more weeks. Warren obviously had a timeline of his own.
He squeezed her breast and whispered in her ear. “Kiss me, Jordan.”
The whiskey on his breath could have knocked out a lesser woman. She angled her face to the side.
It was a sticky situation at best. She would not insult him; a friendly line of communication with the Bucks was a must. But God, she wanted his hands off her body. She tried to let him down easy, but the subtle hints didn’t seem to be registering.
“I’m sorry, Warren. I don’t want to do this here. You’re drunk. I’m freezing. Anyone could walk out the door at any moment. I know these outfits look like an open invitation, but I do have some standards.”
The back door opened, and Ty flew out. He stormed up to Warren and got in his face. “You dad wants you in his office. Right now.”
“Scram, McGee.”
Warren didn’t bother to look at Ty, which was his first mistake. Not bothering to take his hand off of her breast was probably the second.
Ty shoved him. But it was the fist he powered into Warren’s stomach that dropped him to his knees and made him puke.
Jordan stood still and silent. Emotion told her to step between them and knock their heads together. Instinct told her to stand clear. She’d asked Ty to back off. The fact that he ignored her should have infuriated her, but being rid of Warren’s hands was a definite bonus to his interference. And she hadn’t had to break cover to save herself. So she just stood there.
Warren struggled upright. “You sealed your fate here, McGee. You’re fired.”
“Your dad hired me. If he fires me, I’ll leave. But not before I tell him I found you assaulting a waitress in a parking lot while you were drunk. I heard a rumor that he doesn’t like it when you come to work trashed. We can go in there and cause serious trouble for one another, or I can forget that I found you out here mauling an employee. Your call.”
Warren glared at Ty as he stumbled past Jordan and back into the nightclub.
Jordan took one deep breath to compose herself. She swallowed hard, rubbing her hands up and down her arms to generate some warmth.
“It was no big deal,” she said, although Warren probably outweighed her by two hundred pounds. Still, she was no pushover and had been trained well. With a weapon, she could have certainly dropped him. But alone, one on one, as tough as she believed herself to be, she knew it wouldn’t have been a fair fight.
Apparently Ty saw her moment of uncertainty.
She expected anger, a lot of anger. Instead, he put a hand on her chin and tilted her head up.
“Are you okay?”
His words were soft and sweet, but she’d be damned if she’d tear up like a helpless female because some big, drunk ape put his hands on her. But that had been as close as she’d like to get to a very large, very drunk man who took whatever he wanted and never suffered any consequences.
Ty pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her trembling body. He was warm and smelled... Well, as he always did. Amazing. The contrast between Warren’s rough hands and Ty’s gentle caress made her body wilt against him.
It struck her, profoundly, just how attracted she was to him. It was so much more than anything she’d ever felt, so much more than anything she ever wanted to feel. Definitely more than anything she should be feeling.
“Shit,” she mumbled into his chest as her arms slid around him. “I’m fine. Go back in. I just need a moment here.”
“Go home, Jordan. Get out of this place. If you need financial help until we find you something else to do, I’ll help. You need to—”
“Stop, Ty. Just stop.” She found the strength to push away from him. “Unless I go in and Buck fires me, I’m not quitting. You’re the one who just hit Warren. You’re the one who may not have a job much longer.”
“Job or no job, I can help you. You said you never had a safety net; I’m offering to be yours. You don’t have to put up with this crap. I want you out of here. Now. No arguments.”
Her head began to swim. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh or cry. Instinct told her to take his head off for the utter stupidity of what he was demanding.
“Maybe you don’t want to be taken care of, fine. You can pay me back. Can you honestly stand there and tell me you wouldn’t like to walk away from this place?”
How did it all get so complicated? Huh, as if she didn’t know. Sex complicated everything. She was in new territory. She’d never done anything quite so stupid. And yet, as much as she wanted to regret the whole thing and hate herself, hate him, and walk away, she was quite honestly having a hard time getting there.
“Look, I can’t deny that I, you know, feel something. But damn it, Ty, I told you from the first day I met you that this”—she motioned between them—“whatever you think it is, can’t happen. You can’t go chasing me around or even look in my direction. I need you to pretend I don’t exist.”
“Yeah? Tell me this doesn’t exist for you.” He pulled her into his arms and crushed his lips over hers, kissing her roughly at first before letting it slide into a simmer of tenderness and passion.
Her knees buckled, her fingers dug into him, and her heart thundered. Her heart always thundered when he touched her.
He stroked his tongue across her bottom lip. Breathless, shivering, and almost incoherent from the kiss, she stepped back and stared at him.
“Maybe that doesn’t exist for you,” he said, “but it sure the fuck does exist in my world. Why are you here? Why are you scared of them? What do Warren and Arlo have on you that’s trapping you in this godforsaken hellho
le?”
She wasn’t sure of the best way to answer, needed time to think, so she simply turned to walk away.
He snagged her wrist and pulled her close. “Neither of us is moving from this spot until you come clean. Since you’re about to freeze to death, you better start talking fast. I mean it, Jordan.”
Instinctively, in one slick move, she broke his hold, swept both of his legs, and tumbled him to the ground.
“The men in this town need a serious damned lesson on how to treat women,” she said, stomping back into Buck’s.
***
Ty half smiled at the way she’d taken him down. She had some moves he hadn’t expected. Must have been how she took down the old man the other night. Almost like she’d had self-defense training or something.
And with that thought, he got it.
Jesus, I’m an idiot.
Never saw it coming, just like a bullet between the eyes.
She had moves, intelligence, beauty, and, it looked to him, very possibly...
A badge.
Chapter 8
Jordan hadn’t yet put the key in her door when she noticed it wasn’t latched. “Son of a bitch,” she mumbled under her breath. Someone had been there and done a slop-ass job of breaking in. They hadn’t even bothered to cover their tracks.
Her hand instinctively slid to a holster that wasn’t there. Being accustomed to carrying a gun, she found working without one on her person was the thing she hated most about this particular undercover. Being weaponless was a risk, but carrying while wearing short-shorts and a bikini top was a logistical impossibility.
She opened her purse, grabbed her Glock, and popped into the apartment with a low, fast sweep. No visible intruder, but the bedroom light was on. She paused to listen. No noise. No footsteps.
She whipped around the corner. Again, nothing. Another quick sweep into the bedroom proved uneventful, but the window was open. She walked to it and looked down, noticed some dirt that could have come from a shoe on the windowsill. A jump from the second floor wasn’t impossible. Not one she’d voluntarily like to take, but if someone had been in the bedroom when they heard her come in, they might have done it.
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